


ICE

by Unionjackpillow



Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Minor Character Death, Secrets, Surprises, fact finding mission, good or bad - you decide, maybe more than friendship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-16
Updated: 2016-04-09
Packaged: 2018-05-21 03:08:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6035629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unionjackpillow/pseuds/Unionjackpillow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It seems as if Martin might have done something reckless, stupid, devastating and altogether bad. Douglas doesn’t want to believe that his captain would do something horrendous like that, even when all the evidence points to the contrary. So he goes up to Martin’s attic room to look for clues but what he finds  </p><p>1.	was never meant to be found<br/>2.	was most certainly never meant to be found by Douglas<br/>3.	harbours more than just one surprise</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Cabin Pressure or any of the characters, which is probably a good thing. I just borrow them from John Finnemore and Pozzitive Productions for fun and not for profit. Not that this story is fun but there we go.

Martin wasn’t capable of doing something like that. He was a lot of things, stubborn and a stickler for the rules of aviation to name only two, but he had never been reckless and he would never risk the lives of innocent bystanders unless there was a damn good reason, Douglas was sure of that. Unfortunately, he was more or less alone with his assessment of Martin. The Crieff family for one wasn’t helping, Wendy being distraught, Caitlyn being angry at Martin while trying to comfort her mother, and Simon doing his best to control the damage to the Crieff family name. The Knapp-Shappey’s weren’t that much better off. Arthur was deeply in shock and worried, a mere shell of his usually radiant and happy self, Carolyn was barely able to console him, worrying about the whole situation and the future of MJN. For once in his life Douglas was glad for one Hercules Shipwright who, not knowing Martin that well, wasn’t as deeply affected by the horrid affair as the others and thus able to offer the much needed calm and comfort to Carolyn and Arthur. 

These were only some of the thoughts that Douglas mulled over while returning from a cargo flight to Paris. One other thought or, to be more precise, one realization was that he missed his Captain. His firm believe in Martin being a good person and his wish to somehow help him led Douglas to only one conclusion: he had to go to Martin’s room and hope that he’d find a clue, maybe a letter or a note that explained what had happened and more importantly why it had happened. 

On entering the portacabin he was greeted by Herc. 

“Hello Douglas, back from Paris I see. I take it everything went well?”

“Yes, did you expect otherwise?” 

“Douglas, I know you’re affected by all of this, but there’s no reason to sound so venomous. You know very well I’m only here to help out until –“

“Yes. Yes you’re right. Sorry, got a lot on my mind right now.”

“Very well. Will you join us later?”

“No,” Douglas replied, “I have other plans.” 

Herc knew better than to pester him further so he returned to MJN’s books and immersed himself once again in the financial situation of Carolyn’s little airdot. 

Douglas let out a sigh of relief. The last thing he needed right now was Herc questioning him or his motives for what he was about to do. Which was go home, take a shower, have lunch, pack some snacks, and grab the key Martin gave him for emergencies. 

_“Thanks for doing this, Douglas.”_

_“No worries Martin. But pray tell me, I get why you had Martin Crieff written on the keychain, but why does is it also say ‘ICE’ on it? No, don’t answer, let me guess,” Douglas smiled and continued, “Intercity Express – the German train? Immigration and Customs Enforcement? In Car Entertainment? No? Hah, now I’ve got it, it’s ice, compression and elevation, for when you sprain your ankle again.”_

_“Ha, ha, very funny but completely wrong. ICE stands for ‘In Case of Emergency’, just so you know. And, and since your track record with keys isn’t the best, I hope you’ll never need it, Mr. Piano Man.”_

Douglas was still a little impressed by Martin’s comeback. But dwelling on the past was never a good idea, so after getting everything he thought he might need Douglas went to his car. 

Despite the still somewhat snowy roads he arrived about 30 minutes later at the house Martin lived in. Everything was quiet. The students were probably enjoying their holidays at home and Martin was …

“No Richardson, don’t even go there. Oh great, and now I’ve started talking to myself. Out loud. Dammit Martin Crieff, the things you do to me,” he sighed. 

The house was surprisingly warm, someone had to had left the heating on, not that Douglas was complaining. He had feared that it would be freezing and had packed a blanket and put on his warmest and cosiest sweater which he now shed after all of five minutes in the house. Never having entered it before, his natural curiosity got the better of him so he looked around. The ground floor held what looked liked the communal living room, the kitchen with a large dining area, a utility room, a small bathroom and one other room with a not only closed but actually locked door. On the next landing were five more locked doors, a larger bathroom, and the spiral staircase that led to Martin’s attic room. With nothing left to postpone the inevitable, Douglas walked up the stairs.


	2. Chapter 2

He wasn’t quite sure what he was expecting but it certainly was not what he found when he stepped into the room. The one or two times Martin mentioned his accommodation he painted an almost horrific picture of some dingy and awful place. 

“Huh,” Douglas thought, “I wasn’t aware you were one for exaggeration Martin.”

The room was actually quite big, but due to the pitch of the roof Douglas could only stand at his full height in the middle of it whereas his shorter captain would have had a little more headroom. On the far side, under one of the windows, was Martin’s bed or rather his mattress, the duvet neatly folded on top. A small lamp, presumably for reading, stood in the corner behind the makeshift bed. The way the mattress was positioned Martin had been able to look at the sky. A desk with Martin’s old computer on top and a swivel chair in front of it stood under the second window. The wall on Douglas’ right was adorned with aviation themed posters, the one on the left looked almost naked. About 3 ft. to the left from the staircase were Martin’s wardrobe, a dresser and a bookshelf mounted. The dresser had some model airplanes and a few photos on it. Douglas relieved himself of this bag and took a closer look. 

There were four frames with pictures in them, one was already a little faded, it showed an approximately 7-year-old Martin, his siblings and a man who must have been their father. The second picture featured Wendy, teenage Simon and Caitlyn but no Martin. Douglas wondered if he had been behind the camera. The third one was very familiar; Carolyn had taken it while in a suspiciously good mood. They later found out that their filthy rich client accidently paid twice for his flight but never noticed it, Carolyn of course had so right away. Arthur had been begging his mum to take it for quite some time and for once she complied without so much as an eye-roll. The steward stood in the middle, Douglas to his left, Martin on his right and Snoopadoop at his feet, G-ERTI’s tail fin with the MJN logo in the background. 

The last photo was the most intriguing one so Douglas picked up the frame that held it and smiled. It showed maybe late teenage or early twenties Martin, his mop of ginger curls glowing in the sun, freckles adorning his face and arms, dark smudges on the old t-shirt he was wearing and one on his nose. He was working with his dad on the van that was now, a good 20 years later, Martin’s main source of income. The vehicle in the picture had ‘Crieff Electric Services’ on its side, not the familiar ‘Icarus Removals’, and Martin looked happy and relaxed. Douglas decided it was a look that suited Martin more than just well, the complete opposite to what he had looked like the last time Douglas had seen him. 

Reminding himself of the reason for coming to the house he finally got on with his mission. Rifling hrough the dresser he only found socks, underwear, towels, and regrettably nothing of interest or more importantly nothing helpful. Martin’s wardrobe didn’t yield a better result, it held his uniforms, dress shirts, his clothes for the removal business, some jeans, t-shirts and a hoodie, two pairs of shoes on the bottom shelf, next to it his flight bag and an empty holdall, on the top shelf were some duvet covers, an extra blanket and an extra pillow. The clothes were well worn and smelled faintly of Martin. Douglas had spent many hours with the captain crammed into a little metal cupboard so it wasn’t exactly his fault that the familiar scent reminded him of every time one of them had eaten something smelly or had changed his detergent and the other would notice it without failure and complain. Those were the good times.

“Not helpful, Richardson, not helpful,” Douglas murmured to himself.


	3. Chapter 3

If he had had to take a guess, he’d actually been wrong. Well, not completely wrong, but kind of. Naturally Martin’s bookshelf held a lot of books about all things aviation, from regulations to the history of air traffic, biographies of famous aviators and so on. What came as a surprise though were all the other books that looked well read. While checking each and every publication for hidden notes or clues Douglas found the complete Hitchhiker’s Guide series, PG Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster, a few graphic novels, some old children’s books, several DIY-books, and, which shouldn’t have come as a surprise, a selection of books for small business owners about bookkeeping, taxes, law and more. 

He looked at his watch. Although Douglas wasn't pressured for time he was surprised to find that a good 2.5 hours had passed without him finding anything even remotely helpful. Taking another look around he decided to have a go at the computer next. 

The WIN 95 PC took its time to boot but finally Martin’s desktop appeared. Douglas silently thanked Martin for not using password protection and started to look through the digital files. Again he found nothing strange or helpful. There were two folders for different flight simulators, a folder for Icarus Removals with his schedules, invoices and so on, a folder with some photos of foreign airports, planes and some MJN Air snapshots, several letters and spreadsheets, none of those related to what had happened, a folder with some music files and the usual programmes that came with Windows. That was another 90 minutes wasted. 

Douglas decided to take a break. He went to the bathroom and afterwards had two of the prepared sandwiches and some tea. After finishing his meal, he washed his hands and continued his mission by going through the desk’s drawers. Yet again, he had no luck. Every drawer held carefully organized papers and letters, certificates, invoices, but no notes or letters that could testify to Martin’s state of mind at the time of the incident. 

Due to his back protesting sitting on the not so comfortable swivel chair for quite some time now, Douglas got up and decided to get some fresh air. He put his sweater back on, grabbed the mobile which showed the sign for ‘new message’, Martin’s key, and went outside. The fresh air was more than welcome and helped him clear his mind. Remembering the new message, he took the phone out of his pocket and read Herc's message: 

'No change, wish there were better news.' 

Back in Martin’s room Douglas looked around. Again. He already went through the computer files, each and every drawer, looked for a stray note in all of Martin’s books, he even went through his captain’s underwear for crying out loud without finding anything. 

“Martin,” Douglas whispered, “help me so I can help you. Please.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and leaving kudos or even the stray comment. :-)


End file.
